WET weather caused problems across Conwy last week as storms flooded the area.

Thunder and lighting coupled with heavy rainfall saw nearly 50mm of rain fall in some areas in the early hours last Thursday.

In Colwyn Bay traffic was diverted by council workers around a damaged section of Abergele Road near the Dingle Garage where drainage pipes under the road swelled, lifting and breaking the concrete as water ran downhill underground from Nant-y-Glyn Road.

Garage manager Paula Lawrenson has worked at the Dingle Garage for 18 years and said she had never seen flooding like it when she arrived just before 8am when the water was a foot high across the forecourt. Paula and staff sectioned off the damaged drain grid from traffic with advertising signs until police arrived.

“When the rain started one of the grids moved upwards, it was like a water fountain,” said Paula.

“I’ve not seen it that bad in 18 years. The next minute the whole road just burst and rose up. We were worried people were driving over the grid and hadn’t seen the road had risen, so we used signs to put around the grid to stop people driving over it.”

Mark Evans, 31, lives nearby and added: “The road was completely cracked, it looked like there had been an earthquake.”

The Park pub opposite the garage also had its cellar flooded, as did the Cayley pub in Rhos-on-Sea, where firefighters pumped out water.

A muddy river also caused problems on Kings Road, while there were burst pipes on Rhiw Road and four shops closed at the Bay View Centre, including Boots, The Works, Shoezone and Dorothy Perkins, after the shopping centre’s roof leaked.

Damage to the promenade was also caused on the Old Colwyn side of Victoria Pier.

Pensioner William Donald Bourne, 64, of Abergele Road used makeshift sandbags from household cushions to protect his ground floor flat: “You could barely see the road as there was that much water. I was worried about the water building up at my door – there was sewerage coming up from the road.”

Dyfed Rowlands, Conwy’s environment manager, said the flooding had affected areas across the county.

“The worst affected area was Park Road in Colwyn Bay with six properties requesting assistance. Individual properties also reported flooding in Llanfairfechan and Rhos-on-Sea,” he said.